Friday, January 15, 2016

Hoping 2016 is going well for the long time readers. And well for all. 2015 sucked royal, and I am glad to see it go. I got my dream job, but on almost the same day my Mother in Law (who has lived with us for 8 years) was diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer. This was last June. Things went spectacularly bad fast and I wish there was some way to console my wife. Mother in Law passed away in November. Things are still not that "normal" around here. Maybe they will never be.

Still, you have to keep going. So we do. I do.

Panic? Already?
I cut my teeth in the professional world in 1998. In finance during the cauldron of 2000. I have seen some stuff over the years, I am sure you have to. I don't follow the markets all that close anymore, but it's cracking me up how in a panic everyone is over this "correction" that may well wind up being another blip with a V-shaped recovery in like 3 days as it's been for a long time. If you traded and survived the summer of 2011, this is baby wipes. What a bunch of pussies the Wall Street type are, geezus.

I mean, look at this:

Where are the old school Minyanville writer when you need them most? A guy like "Mr. Practical", Kevin Depew, and Todd Harrison would do magic on this kind of thing. Sadly they moved on. I can't speak for them but I quit this stuff around the same time too. Coincidence? Smart, rooted, and thoughtful people have no place in this market.

Random Thoughts
- so... a 0.125-0.25% raise in a zero rate world has caused all this market mess? OK.
- the FED knows all when it's helping, but nothing if anything goes wrong. Got it.
- Todd Harrison wrote long ago that the Internet is THE most deflationary invention of all time. I agree 100%. I cannot understand why nobody else seems to be able to grasp what this means for the big picture. I don't get it.
- I asked in maybe one of my first 4 blog posts that IF the 1999 spending bonanza crazy times was the US economy at 2X what it could do, and 1X was normal, why is the FED always trying to get back to 2X? Nobody in a decade has tried a response. Not even Cullen Roche. Certainly not Conor Sen. The answer to this question is really important.
- My beloved Patriots are going to lose tomorrow to a healthier, better team at this point. I am ok with that for some reason I don't understand.

Ya SUSPECT!
Look it's not my job or hobby any more to try and enlighten you all. Enlightenment comes from within or some shit like that. Allow me to say something about US auto sales and specifically the so called "average car age" stat:

There is NO WAY the average age of US autos is 11 years. For the life of me I could not find out how this is even calculated. I am going to guess that old beaters (any left after cash for clunkers???) get re-registered by the real low end of our society. Instead of viewed as a poor indicator (wow the lower income bracket cannot make way into another bracket and hold on to old cars) it's looked at like pent up demand. Look around you, how many 11 year old cars you see on the road? In your company parking lot or garage?

This stat is FAKE.

Add in the wild channel stuffing (hat tip to the ZeroHedge folks, they are right more than wrong) and crazy loan terms (I bought my Camaro for cash, but they offered me a 72 month payment plan? Asked my wife is she would co-sign for car? My wife was like "He will just pay cash, thanks") car sales are high. It's fake.

Panic on Friday Night? I Think Not!
We don't panic, we rock and roll on Friday night!

For the Wall Street folks who might be down 10%, "Somebody Save Me" by Cinderella. Live in Philly 1991:

Instead of watching "Queen Bee" gyrating on stage like she has a muscle twitch disease and pretending she is all that, watch a real performer doing her thing. Pat Benatar live with "Shadows of the Night":

I am turning 40 this year, so maybe it's that, but when I really got what Don Henley's "Boys of Summer" was about, I cry every time I hear it. Hint; it's not about a girl:

Friday, November 27, 2015

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. I can't get into it here but the past 4 months have been trying, and things are rough.

Dark times, but I always remember the Tolkien line "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us" and so things go on. They always do.

I was listening to music tonight, along with old fights and Game of Thrones episodes, and I thought, why not a Friday night rock blog? Well, why not?

So have some fun.

Friday Night Rock Blogging
A few songs to set your weekend up.

I loved all the old Alice Cooper music, and when a living legend had a new tune on in 1989, well I was happy to give it a shot. It's not bad at all, try out "Poison":

I always search and search for live shows as I think it separates the actual singers from the charlatans. I LOVE this live performance of Tracy Chapman's song "Fast Car" by Chris Daughtry and Kelly Clarkson, you will too:

I am a huge fan of Jewel even though I am often brought to tears listening to her songs. I really liked this bit by Funny or Die where Jewel goes undercover and does karaoke. Of course, people know whats real when they hear it. It worth a look:

I am getting really old or whatever but I have been listening to more classical compositions as of late, I usually look them up based on films of course!

Here is "Gandalf Falls":

How about a symphony of music from "Conan the Barbarian"? If you can place the opening song to the film, I would be impressed:

Oh that is great!

Cinema AND music??? Great lighting and great filming? I will take it, and you should too:

I know I have had it on here before, but closing with Concrete Blonde's wonderful and sad "Joey":

Friday, July 31, 2015

I am not getting into this mess in written form, I have STRONG opinions on it. Trust me. At this point I think it needs to end. Here is how.

August 14, 2015
For immediate release 5:30am EST

-Tom Brady -

"After this process and a better dialogue
with the NFL during the settlement talks, I have come to understand my role in
this matter from a different perspective. I maintain that I never advised nor
know about ball tampering at any time. That said, there were irregularities on
the night of the AFC title game and in order to protect the game, these things
must be taken seriously.

After talks with the NFL, commissioner Goodell most
especially, I accept that in order to bring closure to this matter and to
maintain good faith across the league penalties must be levied and accepted.
The NFL will shortly announce the settlement we have reached. I agree with the
conditions and believe them to be fair and correct. After the announcement I
will not answer nor address this issue again. Thank you."

-The NFL -

For immediate release 5:35am EST

"Tom Brady is suspended for the 2015
preseason schedule for the irregularities found during the 2014 AFC title game.
The NFL, during this process, has found that the process of investigation was
incomplete in no small part to the absence of set ball testing parameters and a
poor system of compliance. The NFL has already detailed the new ball testing
protocol to be in place in 2015, and Tom Brady has been fined $100,000, all of
which will be applied for payment of the additional personal and equipment
required to implement this system in week 1 of the 2015 season. We consider the
matter closed and will not respond to further inquiries."

Friday, July 10, 2015

I have been pretty busy here. I changed jobs again. I got a very significant new position (monster pay raise!) that is a major step up for me in my career. It's a great fit at a top 2 Pharmaceutical company and the program I am working on is one I truly think is where the best new medicines will come from, natural products. Can't say more than that, but I am excited.

Any excited has been damped with the news that the mother in law has inoperable kidney cancer. It came out of nowhere and she has already had serious issues even though she had no symptoms before. It's ugly and not looking good.

I had some plans to do some modifications to my Camaro "Christine" but until we get a better handle on how things are going to work out around here, it's not a time to have fun it feels like. After the longest winter in history, now it's a year without a summer.

Anyways.......

Just wanted to stop in and say a few things about this and that.

Friday Observations and Musings
- Can you believe this Greece thing? This has been going on for like 4 years!!!

- I am one that abhors central banks and being beholden to money and banking like it's some spiritual need above all else. You gotta love how they are operating right now though. For YEARS a few have told all that all these things were going on and they were dismissed as crazy. Now they are just right. What do I mean?

- Greece holds a referendum on the stupid bailout stuff, the people say they don't want it, and now the bankers are going to get what they want anyway. Democracy? Not anymore. It's not just Greece folks, we did it and are doing it too.

- LOVE China suspending stocks, making selling illegal, and pushing and endless load of "liquidity" at their bubble I mean market. This sick joke gets a shrug and is accepted now. Amazing. Check out this tweet from the always smug and annoying Mark Dow:

Hey, it's worked in the US for 6 years now. Not the argument asshat. Folks like this have contributed to the "new normal" of fake markets that are not priced in reality. As the donkeys say "only price pays" like those words have any meaning, but I am not one to not take free money from rigged markets. I don't pretend they are not rigged though, and if I could chose I would end all the support and baloney going on, even though it would cost me (fake) money. The others won't.

- No one writes better about the real angles of all this than "The Automatic Earth" and I would ask you all to swing by there and check out the new site. If you would like to donate a few $, that would certainly help. Check out this last post about the Greek drama.

- I see dumb China peasants losing their ass in the markets, Greek voters and especially youth being robbed of their vote and their futures, and a swath of people all over being passed by and over. I think of a quote from the great book "Robopocalypse":

"It is not enough to live together in peace, with one race on its knees."- Archos R-14

Race, in this case is not regional or color based, but the division of have and have nots. And what the haves keep doing to stay there is getting old for many.

- Deflategate is a travesty, fuck the NFL with relish.

- I finally watched the series "Game of Thrones" and while I don't think it's the orgasmic masterpiece many do, I did like it. I LOVED Sandor Clegane, "The Hound":Cannot Embed, click on over for a great video"You lived your life for the King, your gonna die for some chickens?""Someone is."
- I got the new Galaxy S6 phone and I guess this whole era just passed me by. It's a phone. It does crazy stuff if you want, but I don't need it to. Looks nice though.

- I don't look at charts much at all anymore, no point really (all go up and to the right now, unless it's a commodity) but I did look at gold and silver today. Holy mother, what a mess both of them are. Totally ugly and broken. Long time readers know that I have a firm belief that when the fake money/debt gets called out (Greek debt is fake, almost all of it, it's not real as an example) gold and silver are going to roll or they could even go lower but you can buy a state with a little. From a technical look though, wow run away fast!

- Arianna Grande was not mad about United States obesity, she is just another millionaire pop star loser. Why our culture lavishes riches and interest in children that get naked on stage and lip sync I will never know, but hey it's their dime. I thought shows like American Idol and The Voice would show that just about anyone off the street can do this stuff, instead it's made it worse.

- John Snow had better come back next season or I may well lose my mind

- I so miss the Triumvirate of intelligence, wit, insight, and common sense that was Minyanville's Todd Harrison, Keven Depew, and Mr. Practical. Compare and contrast with the clowns of today, it's just unreal.

- All the apps and social media are going to rob many a person of quite a few years of their life that they are going to want back later on. You can't get it back.

- Read Neil Gaiman's "American Gods", you will not regret it.

- Read a book and get off the phone games and Netflix streaming poison to your mind. Better yet, go outside (prefer outside of a city) and do something, get real quiet, and listen. There is a whole world out there.

Maybe one song in the tradition of Friday Night Rock Blogging.

I actually heard this in blips and thought it was a joke song. When I gave it a chance, it's really sad and I like the tone of the music. Try out Tove Lo's "Habits (Stay High)" for something a bit different: